Reed Sheppard says brotherhood is what makes Kentucky "so special"

You can tell how close this Kentucky Basketball team is by their chemistry on the court. There’s perhaps no better example of that than Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham. The freshman guards are Kentucky’s sixth and seventh men, checking in within the first five minutes to give the Cats a boost. Their play is so seamless on the court that it’s no surprise that they’re close friends off it; in fact, they’re roommates.

“Me and Rob have a really good relationship,” Sheppard told reporters today. “We’re roommates in the [Wildcat Coal] Lodge. We’ve always been close, ever since we got on campus and our chemistry on the court is just from playing together. In practice, we’re always shooting together.”

When Kentucky’s on the road, Sheppard rooms with Tre Mitchell. The grad transfer from West Virginia is four years Sheppard’s elder and regularly delivers wisdom to his younger teammates, whether it be in basketball or life.

“Tre’s been really, really good for this team,” Sheppard said. “He’s an older guy, of course, so he knows what to expect and how to get through it. Tre is my roommate on road games so I get to spend a lot of time with Tre and learn from Tre so I’m really thankful he’s on this team.”

Of course, Mitchell’s age (23) leads to the inevitable “grandpa” jokes from the freshmen. Even Sheppard got in on the fun, teasing that when the younger guys go out, Mitchell goes home to rest.

“He’s an old guy. After practice, he’s done. It’s not going out bowling or anything. He’s going to lay down. Gotta get the rest that he needs.”

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“Off the court, we’re like brothers”

When pressed, Sheppard said he couldn’t say who was the better roommate, Dillingham or Mitchell. He said he’d be happy to room with any player on this team because they’re all so close.

“Anyone here would be a really good roommate because everyone gets along so well,” he said. “There’s not one person that, after practice, you’re like, ‘Ugh, they’re here.’ It’s really, really fun being with everyone and everyone gets along really good.”

Sheppard gave another example of the team’s closeness, telling reporters that on Thursday night, he and five of his teammates chose to hang out at the Joe Craft Center instead of doing their own thing.

“You can tell [our chemistry] on the court but off the court, we’re like brothers. We would rather be with each other off the court than not be with each other.

“It’s kind of different from some teams because you’re with each other all day on the court, so once you get out of practice, you kind of want to go a different way, but for example, last night, there were six of us in the gym talking and laughing. We weren’t even shooting, we were just in there talking and cutting up with each other so that was really, really cool.”

Is brotherhood the secret ingredient to Kentucky’s ninth national championship? Sheppard said seems to think so.

“Every single person here is really, really close with each other. [Me and Rob,] me and Tre, me and [Antonio Reeves], me and DJ [Wagner], me and Adou [Thiero]. It doesn’t matter who it is. Everyone is really close and I think that’s what makes this team so special.”

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